Cape Verde national football team

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Cape Verde
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Tubarões Azuis
(Blue Sharks)[1]
Crioulos (Creoles)
Association Federação Caboverdiana de Futebol
Sub-confederation WAFU (West Africa)
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Head coach Lúcio Antunes
Captain Marco Soares
Top scorer Carlos Morais (10)[2]
Home stadium Estádio da Várzea
FIFA code CPV
FIFA ranking 75
Highest FIFA ranking 51 (October 2012)
Lowest FIFA ranking 182 (April 2000)
Elo ranking 87
Highest Elo ranking 86 (27 January 2013)
Lowest Elo ranking 146 (August 1998)
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Cape Verde 0–1 Angola 
(Cape Verde; unknown date 1978)
Biggest win
 Cape Verde 5–0 Equatorial Guinea 
(Sal, Cape Verde; 28 March 2009)
Biggest defeat
 Senegal 5–1 Cape Verde Cape Verde
(Mali; 12 February 1981)
 Cape Verde 0–4 Ghana 
(Praia, Cape Verde; 8 October 2005)
 Guinea 4–0 Cape Verde Cape Verde
(Conakry, Guinea; 9 September 2007)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances 1 (First in 2013)
Best result Quarter-finals; 2013

The Cape Verde national football team, nicknamed either the Tubarões Azuis (Blue Sharks) or Crioulos (Creoles), is the national team of Cape Verde and is controlled by the Federação Caboverdiana de Futebol.

Contents

History[edit]

Overview[edit]

The Cape Verde Islands became independent from Portugal in 1975. The national team's first international was a 0–3 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in the 1979 Amilcar Cabral Cup.[3] Cape Verde's football association was formed in 1982, and joined FIFA in 1986.[4]

Cape Verdeans abroad, who are more numerous than the population of the islands themselves, are a major source of players for the national team. Most of Cape Verde's current international footballers play outside of Cape Verde (mainly in Europe, but also in Asia), and some were born outside of the islands.[5]

Several players of Cape Verdean origin have chosen to play for other national teams. These include Eliseu, Nani, Manuel Fernandes, Rolando, Nélson Marcos, and Silvestre Varela, who all represent Portugal, as well as Mickaël Tavares, Jacques and Ricardo Faty (Senegal), Patrick Vieira (France), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland), Henrik Larsson (Sweden), David Mendes da Silva (Netherlands) and Rui (Equatorial Guinea), among other examples.

World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifiers[edit]

Cape Verde has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have qualified for the 2013 African Cup of Nations. Its first World Cup qualifying campaign was the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, in which Cape Verde was eliminated in the first round after one draw and one defeat against Algeria.[6]

In the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup and the 2006 African Nations Cup, Cape Verde advanced to the Final Round after its first victory in a World Cup qualifier, beating Swaziland. In the Final Round, the team made an impression with its first ever away victory against Burkina Faso, but finished fifth in its group and failed to qualify for either finals.[6]

New coach João de Deus from Portugal brought in several new players from European leagues for the 2010 World Cup/2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers.[5] Cape Verde finished second in its group in the Second Round, ahead of Tanzania and Mauritius, but behind Cameroon, and did not advance to the Third Round. Cape Verde's top goalscorer of the qualifying campaign was Dady.

Then, finally, Cape Verde qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, after stunning Cameroon 3–2 on aggregate.

2013 Africa Cup of Nations[edit]

On 14 October 2012, Cape Verde managed to secure their first ever berth in the Finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, when they defeated Cameroon 3–2 on aggregate score, following a 2–1 defeat to Cameroon at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, having won the home leg 2–0 in Praia just weeks prior to their qualification.

On 24 October 2012, Cape Verde were drawn into Group A of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, alongside Angola, Morocco and the host nation South Africa. Furthermore, Cape Verde played the opening match of the tournament at Soccer City in Johannesburg, Gauteng, against South Africa on 19 January 2013 – Soccer City being the host venue for the 2010 World Cup Final. Pulled from the fourth pot during the group stage drawing of the tournament, Cape Verde actually had the highest FIFA ranking of any team in their group at the time of the drawing, ranking at 51st overall, followed by Morocco (71st), South Africa (72nd) and Angola (83rd). Cape Verde also had the 10th highest FIFA ranking in the CAF zone at the time of the drawing as well.

Cape Verde drew with South Africa 0–0 in the tournament's first match, before drawing with Morocco 1–1. Platini scored Cape Verde's first ever goal at the AFCON, who were unfortunate to let an early lead slip. They however did win their first ever AFCON match against Angola, which they won 2–1 (despite an early own goal by captain Nando Maria Neves), through the late goals from Fernando Varela and Héldon Ramos, thus qualifying for the quarter-finals, and thus reaching the last eight in their maiden appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations.

On 2 February 2013, Cape Verde faced Ghana in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Cape Verde played a good match, with 16 shots on Ghana's goal to their 8, with 7 shots on target to their 2, Cape Verde proved to be especially dangerous from set-pieces, however Ghana's keeper Abdul Dauda managed to keep a clean sheet making some spectacular saves, and with Wakaso Mubarak scoring a penalty kick for Ghana in the 54' minute, and then scoring again in the closing minute of the game (90+5') on an open goal, Ghana would win the match 2–0, to move on to the semi-finals, and ending Cape Verde's exceptional 2013 Africa Cup of Nations campaign.[7]

Other tournaments and notable matches[edit]

Cape Verde has two titles: It hosted and won the Amilcar Cabral Cup in 2000, and won the gold medal in the football tournament at the 2009 Lusophony Games. The team also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Lusophony Games.

For the first time in its history, on 2 November 2002, it faced a non-African team, Luxembourg, in a friendly, resulting in a scoreless draw. On 4 September 2009, it faced Malta in a friendly, resulting in an 2–0 victory. On 24 May 2010, Cape Verde played out a 0–0 draw in a friendly match against a full-strength Portugal.[8] At the time, Portugal was third in the FIFA rankings and Cape Verde were 117th.[9]

Stadium[edit]

Main article: Estádio da Várzea

The team plays their games at Estádio da Várzea. It is located in the capital city, Praia, on the Santiago Island. The stadium opened in 2006 and holds 10,000 people.

World Cup record[edit]

FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 to
Germany 1974		 Before independence in 1975
Argentina 1978 to
Spain 1982		 Not a member of FIFA
Mexico 1986 to
France 1998		 Did not enter
South Korea Japan2002 to
Brazil 2014		 Did not qualify
Russia 2018 To be determined
Qatar 2022
Total Did not qualify 0/19 0 0 0 0 0 0

Africa Cup of Nations record[edit]

Titles: 0
Appearances: 1
Year Position Year Position Year Position Year Position
Sudan 1957 Did not enter Ethiopia 1976 Did not enter Tunisia 1994 Did not qualify Equatorial GuineaGabon 2012 Did not qualify
Egypt 1959 Did not enter Ghana 1978 Did not enter South Africa 1996 Withdrew South Africa 2013 Quarter-finals
Ethiopia 1962 Did not enter Nigeria 1980 Did not enter Burkina Faso 1998 Did not enter
Ghana 1963 Did not enter Libya 1982 Did not enter GhanaNigeria 2000 Did not qualify
Tunisia 1965 Did not enter Ivory Coast 1984 Did not enter Mali 2002 Did not qualify
Ethiopia 1968 Did not enter Egypt 1986 Did not enter Tunisia 2004 Did not qualify
Sudan 1970 Did not enter Morocco 1988 Did not enter Egypt 2006 Did not qualify
Cameroon 1972 Did not enter Algeria 1990 Did not enter Ghana 2008 Did not qualify
Egypt 1974 Did not enter Senegal 1992 Did not enter Angola 2010 Did not qualify

Last 10 and known next games[edit]

Date Venue Opponent Competition Result Scorers
14 October 2012 Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé,  Cameroon  Cameroon AFCONQ2013 2–1 L Héldon Goal 12'
14 November 2012 Estádio Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon,  Portugal  Ghana Friendly match 0–1 L
9 January 2013 Estádio Do Algarve, São João da Venda,  Portugal  Nigeria Friendly match 0–0 D
19 January 2013 Soccer City, Johannesburg,  South Africa  South Africa AFCON2013 0–0 D
23 January 2013 Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban,  South Africa  Morocco AFCON2013 1–1 D Platini Goal 36'
27 January 2013 Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth,  South Africa  Angola AFCON2013 2–1 W F. Varela Goal 81'
Héldon Goal 90+1'
2 February 2013 Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth,  South Africa  Ghana AFCON2013 0–2 L
24 March 2013 Nuevo Estadio de Malabo, Malabo,  Equatorial Guinea  Equatorial Guinea WCQ2014 4–3 L Djaniny Goal 5', 85'
Platini Goal 36'
8 June 2013 Estádio da Várzea, Praia,  Cape Verde  Equatorial Guinea WCQ2014 2–1 W Babanco Goal 17'
Djaniny Goal 53'
15 June 2013 Estádio da Várzea, Praia,  Cape Verde  Sierra Leone WCQ2014 1–0 W Héldon Goal 11'
6 September 2013 Stade Olympique de Radès, Radès,  Tunisia  Tunisia WCQ2014

KEY: AFCONQ2013 = 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification KEY: AFCON2013 = 2013 Africa Cup of Nations KEY: WCQ2014 = 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Squad[edit]

Current squad[edit]

The following players were called for two 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone.[10]

Caps and goals updated as 15 June 2013 after the match against Sierra Leone.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Fock (1982-07-25) 25 July 1982 (age 30) 11 0 Cape Verde Batuque
1GK Vozinha (1986-06-03) 3 June 1986 (age 27) 9 0 Angola Progresso
2DF Gegé (1988-02-24) 24 February 1988 (age 25) 13 0 Portugal Marítimo B
2DF Carlitos (1985-04-23) 23 April 1985 (age 28) 12 0 Cyprus AEL Limassol
2DF Nivaldo (1988-07-10) 10 July 1988 (age 24) 11 0 Portugal Académica
2DF Stopira (1988-05-20) 20 May 1988 (age 25) 10 0 Hungary Videoton
2DF Kay (1988-01-05) 5 January 1988 (age 25) 2 0 Portugal Belenenses
2DF Admar (1987-03-27) 27 March 1987 (age 26) 0 0 Cape Verde Sporting da Praia
3MF Babanco (1985-07-27) 27 July 1985 (age 27) 31 3 Portugal Olhanense
3MF Marco Soares (1984-06-06) 6 June 1984 (age 29) 29 2 Cyprus AC Omonia
3MF Toni Varela (1986-06-13) 13 June 1986 (age 27) 20 1 Netherlands Sparta Rotterdam
3MF David Silva (1986-10-11) 11 October 1986 (age 26) 5 0 Portugal Olhanense
3MF Calú (1983-09-20) 20 September 1983 (age 29) 2 0 Angola Progresso
3MF Alex (1986-12-04) 4 December 1986 (age 26) 1 0 Angola Inter Luanda
3MF Bada (1994-03-20) 20 March 1994 (age 19) 0 0 Cape Verde Ultramarina
4FW Héldon Nhuck (1988-12-14) 14 December 1988 (age 24) 22 7 Portugal Marítimo
4FW Djaniny (1991-03-21) 21 March 1991 (age 22) 12 5 Portugal Olhanense
4FW Júlio Tavares (1988-11-19) 19 November 1988 (age 24) 8 0 France Dijon
4FW Platini (1986-04-16) 16 April 1986 (age 27) 7 2 Portugal Santa Clara
4FW Brito (1987-11-16) 16 November 1987 (age 25) 0 0 Portugal Gil Vicente

Recent call-ups[edit]

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Rilly (1992-01-25) 25 January 1992 (age 21) 0 0 Cape Verde Mindelense 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
GK Nélson Cruz (1987-08-21) 21 August 1987 (age 25) 1 0 Portugal Quarteirense premilinary v.  Tunisia, June 9, 2012
DF Guy Ramos (1985-08-16) 16 August 1985 (age 27) 13 0 Netherlands RKC Waalwijk preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
DF Fernando Varela (1987-11-26) 26 November 1987 (age 25) 24 3 Romania Vaslui preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
DF Josimar (1989-08-02) 2 August 1989 (age 23) 3 0 Netherlands Dordrecht preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
DF Pecks (1993-04-10) 10 April 1993 (age 20) 1 0 Portugal Gil Vicente 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
DF Nilson (1987-08-05) 5 August 1987 (age 25) 2 0 Cape Verde Boavista preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
DF Nhambu (1977-11-22) 22 November 1977 (age 35) 6 0 Cape Verde Mindelense preliminary v.  Liberia, June 5, 2011
MF Sténio (1988-05-06) 6 May 1988 (age 25) 3 0 Portugal Feirense preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
MF Ericson Tibs (1987-11-25) 25 November 1987 (age 25) 1 0 Portugal Tondela preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
MF Valdo (1981-04-23) 23 April 1981 (age 32) 2 1 Mexico Atlante preliminary v.  Zimbabwe, October 8, 2011
MF Fábio Silva (1985-04-05) 5 April 1985 (age 28) 1 0 Hungary Kazincbarcikai preliminary v.  Liberia, March 26, 2011
MF Sita (1986-04-21) 21 April 1986 (age 27) 5 0 Angola Libolo preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
MF Valter Borges (1988-11-09) 9 November 1988 (age 24) 6 1 Spain Alcalá preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
MF Dário Furtado (1979-01-14) 14 January 1979 (age 34) 15 2 Cape Verde Sporting da Praia preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
MF Jerson Ribeiro (1988-03-09) 9 March 1988 (age 25) 1 0 Bulgaria Etar 1924 preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
MF Joazimar Sequeira (1991-01-26) 26 January 1991 (age 22) 1 0 Portugal Oeiras preliminary v.  Burkina Faso, February 9, 2011
FW Rambé (1989-10-04) 4 October 1989 (age 23) 3 0 Portugal Belenenses preliminary v.  Equatorial Guinea, March 24, 2013
FW Ryan Mendes (1990-01-08) 8 January 1990 (age 23) 15 4 France Lille 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
FW Zé Luís (1991-01-24) 24 January 1991 (age 22) 7 1 Portugal Braga premilinary v.  Madagascar, June 16, 2012
FW Odair Fortes (1987-03-31) 31 March 1987 (age 26) 9 2 France Reims premilinary v.  Tunisia, June 9, 2012
FW Lito (1975-02-03) 3 February 1975 (age 38) 41 5 Portugal Atlético CP premilinary v.  Tunisia, June 9, 2012
FW Dady (1981-08-13) 13 August 1981 (age 31) 22 4 China Shanghai Shenhua premilinary v.  Madagascar, February 29, 2012

Managers since 2003[edit]

Honours[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Conheça as alcunhas das 16 seleções finalistas" [Meet the nicknames of the 16 finalists]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 2 February 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013. 
  2. ^ Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 February 2011. 
  3. ^ Courtney, Barry (5 June 2006). "Cape Verde Islands – List of International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 27 June 2010. 
  4. ^ "Cape Verde Islands". FIFA.com. Retrieved 27 June 2010. 
  5. ^ a b "Foreign contingent boost Cape Verde". FIFA. 21 May 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010. 
  6. ^ a b "Cape Verde Islands: Profile". FIFA. Retrieved 27 June 2010. 
  7. ^ "Ghana vs. Cape Verde Islands 2-0". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  8. ^ "Report: Portugal v Cape Verde Islands - International Friendly - ESPN Soccernet". Soccernet.espn.go.com. 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2012-04-19. 
  9. ^ http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html#confederation=0&rank=192
  10. ^ [1] (Portuguese)
  11. ^ "Cape Verde island coach Alhinho resigns". ESPN Soccernet. Reuters. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  12. ^ "Ze Rui appointed Cape Verde coach". BBC. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  13. ^ a b "Cape Verde confirm identity of new coach". BBC. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  14. ^ "De Deus New Cape Verde Coach". MTN Football. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2008. 
  15. ^ "Soccer federation unaware of national selection coach’s alleged exit". Asemana. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  16. ^ "Lúcio Antunes tapped as new national soccer team coach". Asemana. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010. 

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